Just before the Holy Week long weekend, I went to Saguijo together with gig buddy and partner Karla to watch my friend’s band perform for the first time. My friend’s name is Doki (her nickname) and her band’s name is same as hers. Anyway, I’ll disclose that this is a super biased review of the band because she’s my kabarkada since High School but it’s up to you to discover how unique and cool the sound of this band is.

2 days ago, Doki, together with our other St. Scho friends had dinner somewhere in Makati. Since all of us knew that she’s already having gigs, we of course talked about her band. Doki shared that she already had lyrics written before but since she couldn’t play an instrument, she looked for bandmates who can give life to her songs. It was through Facebook where she met her bandmates, through referrals of friends of friends. See how wonderful social networking is? No auditions happened, 5 complete strangers jammed and jived together through the language of music. It sounded cliche but according to Doki, it was really like that. So, in 2009, the band was officially formed. The complete line up is now composed of Doki Puno – vocals,  Jerold Rivera – guitars/back up vocals, Renmin Nadela – drums, Daniel Zetazate – bass, Jeff Lucas – guitars.

I guess you’re already eager to know how the band sounds like. Well, they sound like a combination of Up Dharma Down, Taken By Cars and Techyromantics without the electronica stuff (if there are other bands that sound like them, let me know!) Basically, Doki is a band is not the showband type that does covers. Their music is a combination of jazz, soul, pop and rock. Watching them live is much better than hearing recorded demos. I’m not saying not to buy their album in the future but I guess the experience would be more realistic when you’re there.

I knew that Doki can sing but I could not believe that she’s this amazing. Pwera biro. Doki, being the jolly person I knew since High School, really changed my perception of her the moment I saw her perform live. She definitely inherited her father’s singing talent. Guess who her dad is (see her last name below, hehe)? Aside from Doki’s soulful yet sweet voice, her bandmates played clean. I think that is very important. Jeff Lucas’ guitar riffs were clean, just the way I like it. Also, another interesting thing about this band is the blending of feminine and masculine voices. This band is full of positive vibes and can actually influence these vibes to their listeners.

Must-hear songs are “Keeper”, “That Road” and “Panata”.

Doki is currently an indie band and plans to be in the indie scene first before going mainstream.

You can listen to some of their demos in http://www.reverbnation.com/doki and http://www.myspace.com/dokisound. Add them in Facebook too: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DokiMusic. I took a video during their performance in Saguijo last March 31st. Please see below. If you have the time, do catch some of their gigs so that you’ll know what I mean on the positive vibes.

“That Road” by Doki

Tags: Doki Band in the Philippines, Doki music